By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Everyone needs goals. Sometimes those goals must be achieved in stages – high school diploma, college diploma, successful career, etc.

No. 2 seed Kansas State (27-7) and No. 7 seed BYU (30-5) meet in the second round of the West Regional here Saturday. Each team recorded a modest achievement Thursday. The Wildcats won just the second NCAA game since 1988 while the Cougars won their first NCAA game since 1993. That was one small step for them. Now it’s time for a giant leap.

The winner Saturday advances to the regional semifinals – the Sweet 16. The last time both teams survived the first weekend it was disco, leg warmers and John Hughes movies. Kansas State made the Sweet 16 in 1988 while BYU’s last time making it that far was 1981.

“I just hope our guys, from now on, when we get to the NCAA Tournament (or) the next game, that we can go out and just play,” said coach Dave Rose, who played on Houston’s Phi Slama Jama teams in the early 1980s. We are playing for fun. We are not playing for 17 years, and we are not playing for eight or nine other teams. ... That is what we tried to emphasize -- was just to make this be about us.”

BYU guard Jimmer Fredette likes the fact that BYU goes into the game as an underdog and that the pressure of finally winning a first-round game is gone.

“The monkey’s off our back and people can’t talk about it anymore,” he said. “We’re playing more relaxed, we’re the underdog with nothing to lose.”

As the higher seed, Kansas State is like any “overdog” in the NCAAs. The Wildcats are supposed to win. Accomplishing that involves one of the toughest things in sports – doing what’s expected.

“We still have the chip on our shoulder,” Kansas State junior guard Jacob Pullen said. “A lot of people are picking us to lose. It’s about our motivation, understanding where we want to be, what we want to do. We know what we need to do win.”

During Friday’s news conference, Kansas State coach Frank Martin stressed that the Wildcats will have to be disciplined defensively to contain a BYU team that averages 83 points per game. The Cougars are not averse to playing at a fast pace. That would seem to suit Kansas State, which often is at its best in open-court situations. In particular, senior guard Denis Clemente can be a blur with the ball.

“There are some guys you want to speed up because they make mistakes the faster they go,” Rose said. “I don’t think you can make Clemente go any faster. The faster he goes, the better he plays. That’s one of the things that make him a unique player.”

A victory by BYU would not only achieve the Second Weekend Goal but would also allow the Cougars to play in Salt Lake City – less than an hour from their campus in Provo.

“I hope our players realize that we’ve got a challenge in front of us but if you play your hardest great things can happen,” Rose said. “I don’t want our players to look too far ahead but anything that can motivate you is a good thing. We’ll treat it like it’s something that’s out there if we can accomplish another goal.”

Kansas State strategy
The Wildcats should have a rebounding edge and they need to dominate the paint. In its first-round victory over Florida, BYU was out-rebounded 45-33 (20-10 on the offensive glass). Kansas State has strength, length and depth up front and it needs to take advantage of that. The Wildcats had 17 offensive rebounds in their first-round victory and have out-rebounded their opponents by five per game this season.

Defensively, Kansas State needs to contain BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. The Wildcats’ Dominique Sutton might get first crack at guarding Fredette, who has incredible shooting range. He’s a clever scorer when getting near the basket so it will help if the Wildcats’ bigs can help out by challenging his drives. BYU is one of the nation’s top free throw shooting teams (78.6 percent) while K-State leads the nation in free throw makes and attempts. The Wildcats need to be judicious in how often and who they foul.

BYU strategy
The Cougars will have to match the Wildcats’ energy and aggression. Kansas State has enough depth that it can afford to bump and grind on defense while not worrying about foul trouble. Michael Loyd Jr., who scored a career-high 26 in BYU’s first-round victory, has the speed and quickness to help the Cougars offset Kansas State’s back court duo of Pullen and Clemente.

Fredette appears capable of scoring 30 on anyone but the key to the Cougars’ first-round victory was Loyd’s unexpected scoring production. BYU needs to get scoring and rebounding from its front court. The Cougars also need to hit a high volume of 3-pointers. BYU’s back court will have to step up to slow Pullen and Clemente.